My EndeavourOS KDE Setup With BTRFS

This post walks through how EndeavourOS was installed with KDE Plasma, BTRFS, and systemd-boot, then tuned for daily use with Flatpaks, yay, Spectacle, Timeshift, KDE Connect, and some basic performance tweaks.

Booting the EndeavourOS ISO With Ventoy

Instead of writing a single ISO to a USB stick each time, Ventoy lets you maintain a multi-boot USB with multiple ISOs.

Basic Ventoy workflow:

  • Install Ventoy to a USB drive using the official Ventoy instructions for Linux or Windows.
  • Download the latest EndeavourOS ISO.
  • Copy the ISO directly onto the Ventoy USB.
  • Boot from the USB and select the EndeavourOS ISO from the Ventoy menu.

Manual BTRFS + EFI Partitioning With systemd-boot

For this setup, manual partitioning was used to get a clean BTRFS layout with a dedicated EFI partition and systemd-boot as the bootloader.

  • Create a BTRFS partition for the root filesystem.
  • Create a separate EFI system partition (around 4 GiB is plenty).
  • Use the online installer and select KDE Plasma as the desktop environment.
  • Choose systemd-boot instead of GRUB during the install if prompted.

After the install, you get a simple systemd-boot menu, BTRFS subvolumes (for things like @, @home, and snapshots), and KDE ready to customize.

Basic Post-Install Steps (Welcome App, Mirrors, Updates)

EndeavourOS includes a Welcome app that makes the first round of system maintenance and updates much easier. It should pop up on first boot or can be launched from the menu.

  • Update the system with yay – In Welcome, use the buttons to run a full system update. This ensures the base system and AUR helpers are current.
  • Check and rank mirrors – Use the mirror ranking options in Welcome to choose fast, reliable mirrors for your location.
  • Read Software News – The Software News section highlights important changes, known issues, and upgrade notes worth seeing before big updates.
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Running through these steps early avoids weird issues caused by stale mirrors or outdated packages.

Essential Desktop Apps and Tools

After the base setup, a few desktop tools make day-to-day use smoother on KDE.

  • Flatpaks and Discover – Enable Flatpak support and use the Discover software center to grab desktop apps in sandboxed form.
  • yay (AUR helper) – Use yay in the terminal to install packages from both official repos and AUR when needed.
  • Spectacle – Use Spectacle for screenshots and screen recordings; it integrates well with KDE shortcuts.
  • Printing support – Install and configure printers after setup via KDE’s printer tools rather than assuming they are fully configured during install.
  • Bluetooth – Bluetooth tools are installed already; they just need to be enabled/activated in KDE’s system settings when you want to pair devices.

Timeshift Snapshots on BTRFS

Timeshift is used here to create system snapshots so you can roll back if an update breaks something. On a BTRFS setup, Timeshift can use BTRFS snapshots instead of rsync.

  • Install Timeshift (if not already installed).
  • Choose BTRFS mode when configuring Timeshift, and point it at your BTRFS system partition.
  • Set an automatic snapshot schedule (for example, daily and weekly).

If updates cause problems, you can restore a previous snapshot from Timeshift and get back to a known-good state quickly.

Chrome Memory Saver and Performance

On this system, Chrome was heavy enough to trigger memory issues and even system instability until some tuning was done.

  • Limit the number of open tabs and heavy extensions.
  • In Chrome settings, enable the Memory Saver tab option so inactive tabs are put to sleep and do not consume as much RAM.
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With Memory Saver enabled and a bit more discipline around tabs, Chrome behaves much better on the system without crashing the whole desktop.

KDE Connect and Firewall Trusted Zone

KDE Connect is used to tie the Android phone and the EndeavourOS KDE desktop together for notifications, file sharing, and remote control. If KDE Connect will not connect, the firewall zone is often the culprit.

  • Open your firewall configuration tool on EndeavourOS.
  • Set the active network connection’s zone to trusted so KDE Connect traffic is not blocked.
  • Ensure the KDE Connect ports are open for both TCP and UDP in that zone.

Once the machine is in the trusted zone and KDE Connect is allowed, the Android app can discover and pair with the EndeavourOS KDE desktop normally.

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